Chapter 9 – Work
Although the ventilation fan kept sending the air upwards, the air still did not smell good. If it was the first time a person came and they had just eaten, they might have directly vomited out their food.
Wei Xiao Bei had been working here for almost 3 months, so he was used to the smell. He even felt a sense of security whenever he smelled the engine oil mixed with rubber and sewer water in the air.
The clock-in machine was located beside the elevator. After he clocked in and passed through the passage, he arrived at a wooden door labeled ‘lounge’ and walked inside.
As the name implied, this place was the engineering department’s lounge. This was the place where the department held their morning meetings and where the employees changed their clothes.
There was a long table in the middle of the lounge with wooden chairs all around it. Going further inside, there was a wooden couch and a line of wardrobes across the wall. There was also a water dispenser and a long mirror in the corner of the room. There was also a ventilation fan hanging from the middle of the ceiling.
This was what the entire lounge consisted of. Compared to the security department’s lounge with a punching bag, treadmill, and dumbbells, or the sanitation department’s beds and kitchen, or even the 37th floor headquarters coffee machine, cloisonne tea set, chess board, etc., the engineering department’s lounge seemed poverty stricken.
Even the long mirror and the water dispenser were second-hand goods passed down from the sanitation department.
This situation was unavoidable. In Electrician Li Yuan Cheng’s words, the engineering department was a money spending department. The security department could still take parking fees, the sanitation department could sell rejects and clean the above floors for money. Where should the engineering department earn their money from? The property owner’s real estate fee?
That was impossible because that money was the company’s income. The money earned from extra services were also directly received by the finance department as the company’s income.
Whichever company it was, the engineering department would only spend money and did not earn that much money in return. Even if they earned money, the money would directly enter the finance department’s account books. This way, the engineering department’s status was understandably lower than others.
Wei Xiao Bei changed his clothes while thinking of these things, smiling as he thought.
“You’re here little Wei, aren’t you early today.”
A skinny, thick-eyebrowed 45 year old man entered the lounge while carrying a tea cup. With a firm pace, he walked to the wardrobe and opened his section as he called out to Wei Xiao Bei.
“You are also early Brother Wang.”
Wei Xiao Bei replied while attaching the Da Hao Real Estate’s chest insignia.
The middle aged man was named Wang Wei Dong. He had entered the company at the same time as Wei Xiao Bei. He was an electrician that took advantage of his seniority to judge everything.
During the human resources interview, Wang Wei Dong was an unceasing torrent to the point that the human resource director just blankly stared at him.
Normally, a company like Da Hao Real Estate would not hire Wang Wei Dong due to his age. However, Wang Wei Dong was an expert in water works, elevator maintenance and managing the central air conditioning.
Being an expert in many different fields while being an electrician was undoubtedly a huge plus. As a result, he was recruited at the same time with Wei Xiao Bei.
Wei Xiao Bei was also recruited for his electrical work but he only had the skill due to learning it in the army. The gap in skill between him and Wang Wei Dong, who had 20 plus years of experience in estate maintenance, was too huge.
If that human resource director was not an army retiree, Wei Xiao Bei might not even have passed the first round of interviews.
Wei Xiao Bei took on a learning attitude and called Wang Wei Dong as Brother Wang, learning all the skills he could from him and at the same time, improving their relationship.
They both sat on the wooden chairs and chatted for a while. The other employees also began to enter the room in succession. The once quiet lounge was now filled with noise.
The employees of the engineering department were not that many. There were 16 people in total for all type of works, including the main engineer.
Before everyone finished changing into their uniforms, a semi-bald 30 year old man with a thermos, entered the lounge. He frowned at the chaos in the lounge, “Everyone, get a move on. We will soon begin the meeting.”
This was the engineering department’s main engineer, Engineer Zhang. The managerial position of the engineering department was currently empty, as a result, Engineer Zhang currently oversaw the overall administrations. Everyone trusted him due to his extensive skills in handling electric work, water works and the central air conditioning system.
Wei Xiao Bei was fond of this system where your skills decided your position just like in the army.
Unfortunately, his skill in electrical work was weak, so his position was not that high, making him slightly depressed.
The morning meeting finished in 20 minutes. The night shift personnel reported the problems that they found and could not resolve. Then, Engineer Zhang assigned people their work.
Most of the problems in the engineering department were trivial matters. For example, two light bulbs in passage 03 had burned out, or a leakage was found in B2F’s toilet, or the monitor in the reception desk was malfunctioning, etc.
After all, this twin tower building was only built 4-5 year ago, so it still would not have any big problems for a long while.
These tasks did not really concern Wei Xiao Bei. After the meeting, he brewed a cup of tea and walked to the high-voltage electrical room.
Wei Xiao Bei’s main position in the engineering department was to go to the high-voltage electrical room. His main job was to oversee the electrical room and adjust the voltage values of the office building according to Engineer Zhang’s instructions.
Wei Xiao Bei pushed open the wooden door, crossed over the Rodent Control Board, avoided the power cabinet, and arrived at a long table. A computer monitor and a small air conditioner was on top of the table. In front of the table was a young man in uniform.
(Rodent Control Board: http://www.jinyoudianli.com/uploads/allimg/170517/1-1F51G51S3452.jpg never knew such a thing existed)
The young man’s face was white, while his cheeks were flushed red. A small pimple grew on his nose, destroying his image.
“Superstar, it’s time to go home.”
Wei Xiao Bei greeted the young man and chuckled. The young man lazily stood up and looked at Wei Xiao Bei while stretching his body, “I have once again earned another day’s wages. Life is so hard. Good morning Xiao Bei.”
This young man was named Tian Xue Cun. His name was similar to a well known superstar, so he was nicknamed ‘Superstar’. He was barely older than Xiao Bei by one year but he loved acting older than him.
“Oh right. Did anything happen while I was sleeping for the night?” Wei Xiao Bei asked.
“Nothing happened. I’m going to go change my clothes.”
Tian Xue Cun left the high-voltage electrical room as he spoke.
The high-voltage electrical room had a three-shift system. The day shift was from 8:30 am in the morning until 6:00 pm in the afternoon. The night shift was from 6:00 pm in the afternoon until 8:00 am in the morning. There was a total of three people in the rotation.
